College of Law | |
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Established | 1966 |
Type | Public |
Dean | Donald J. Weidner |
Location | Tallahassee, Florida, USA |
Website | Official website |
Florida State University College of Law is the law school of Florida State University in Tallahassee. The law school's highly accomplished and accessible law faculty delivers a program that has an interdisciplinary orientation designed to produce well-rounded and effective lawyers.
The law school borders the southeast quadrant of the University's campus, near the Donald L. Tucker Center, an arena and part of the Tallahassee civic center area, and is immediately across the street from the Florida First District Court of Appeal courthouse (as of Spring 2007, the Florida Legislature has given the court building to the law school for renovation for school use). It is recognizable by the distinctive and historic white wood trellis structures outside the law school's eastern buildings.
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The College of Law offers the Juris Doctor (J.D.), which is the first professional law degree. The three-year program provides students a foundational first-year program, a legal writing program, and a varied offering of upper-level courses, seminars, clinics, and co-curricular activities.
Externship programs exist in the United States and abroad — including at the International Bar Association in London, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague, the Special Court of Sierra Leone, in Washington, D.C., and in every major city in Florida, allowing students to spend a semester outside of Tallahassee.
The College of Law offers an Master of Laws (LL.M.) program in Environmental Law and Policy, as well as an LL.M. program for foreign lawyers. Additionally, the College of Law offers certificate programs in Environmental and Land Use Law and International Law. Its faculty also offers a significant range of courses in Law, Business, and Economics.
The College of Law offers joint degree programs allowing students to earn other degrees in conjunction with the J.D., including Master of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Business Administration, and Ph.D. degrees.
Leiter’s Law School Rankings (2010) rates the law school's faculty as the nation’s 23rd best in terms of per capita scholarly impact.
The National Jurist magazine (2009) ranks Florida State the nation’s 10th “Best Value” law school, based on employment rate, bar passage and tuition.
Hispanic Business magazine (2009) ranks Florida State University College of Law as the nation’s 3rd best law school for Hispanic students.
The College of Law is ranked 50th among law schools in the 2011 U.S. News & World Report law school ranking. [1]
U.S. News ranked the environmental law program as the sixth best in law schools and the highest-ranked in the Southeast.
The National Jurist magazine (2010) ranks the law library the 30th best in the nation.[2]
In a recent study of faculty productivity of law schools Florida State Law ranked third and was the top law school in Florida and the most productive in the Southeastern U.S.[3] The faculty scholarship of Florida State Law regularly ranks among the top 30 law schools based on downloads, according to the Social Science Research Network, which hosts working papers by Florida State Law Faculty in Public Law and Legal Theory, Law, Business & Economics and Sustainability Law & Policy.
Nationally prominent law professors at FSU include faculty in: Administrative and Regulatory Law (Jim Rossi, Mark Seidenfeld); Constitutional Law (Steven Gey, Nat Stern, Tara Grove); Criminal Law (Wayne Logan, Dan Markel, Gary Kleck); Environmental and Land Use Law (Donna R. Christie, Robin Kundis Craig, David L. Markell, J. B. Ruhl, John Scholz); International Law (Frederick M. Abbott, Fernando Tesón); Law & Humanities, including Legal Philosophy (Rob Atkinson, Curtis Bridgeman, Fernando Tesón); Law, Economics & Business (Bruce L. Benson, Dino Falaschetti, Manuel Utset, Shawn Bayern); and Tax Law (Joseph M. Dodge).
Several Florida State Law faculty members have published their own casebooks in environmental law — David Markell, Robin Kundis Craig, J.B. Ruhl, Jim Rossi and Donna Christie. Other faculty authored books are widely used in law schools across the country for courses in Tax Law (Joseph M. Dodge), International Intellectual Property Law (Frederick M. Abbott), Law and Economics (Mark Seidenfeld), Energy Law (Jim Rossi) and Endangered Species Law (J.B. Ruhl). Beyond the classroom, Florida State Law faculty members are regularly cited as authorities by courts, law reform bodies and other scholars. One faculty member, Sandy D'Alemberte, is a former president of both the American Bar Association and the National Judicature Society.
Affiliated faculty from other university departments holding courtesy appointments at the law school include John Scholz, a leading political scientist addressing regulatory enforcement; Bruce L. Benson, an economist focused and law and economics; R. Mark Isaac, a leading experimental economist; and Gary Kleck, a criminologist known for his work on guns and deterrence.
The Florida State University Law Review is the flagship law review of Florida State Law. It publishes four issues a year.
The Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law is the state's first and remains its only student publication in the field. It is ranks among the top environmental and land use law journals based on citations.
The Journal of Transnational Law & Policy publishes articles in the field of international law, including human rights, comparative law and U.S. foreign policy.
Law students also publish the Florida State University Business Review a biannual publication which examines the interrelated disciplines of business and law but is not an official cocurricular journal.
Some of its distinguished graduates include:
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